Ridley High School
Advanced Placement Literature Course #145
Summer Reading Assignment 2015
DUE: Tuesday, September 8, 2015
This year you will be selecting your own summer reading from a series of choices. Select one book from Column A, one book from Column B, and one book from Column C. The numbers in parentheses in Column A indicate how many times the book has appeared as a choice on the AP English open response. Although the size of Invisible Man or Moby Dick seems daunting, your diligence may be rewarded when it appears as a literature choice on the AP test.
After you have read your selected pieces, you will respond to them in several short essays, similar to what you will produce for the AP exam. In each essay, you will analyze a major theme derived from your chosen work, using textual evidence (excerpts) to examine how this theme is developed and presented throughout the work. Each essay should address the “big idea” -- the major concern driving the piece. You should fluidly incorporate quotations (excerpts) that demonstrate these ideas and devote significant time to analyzing each quote.
In order to produce an essay of this depth successfully, you must keep detailed notes as you read each text. Your notes should record significant events, characters, themes, quotes, and include page numbers for reference. These notes can--and should--also include your personal reactions to the text. Please use the attached “AP Literature Novel Review Sheet” to record your notes. Please note that your essays will not be accepted without your note sheets.
Summary of Requirements:
* Choose three texts to read, one from Column A, one from Column B, and one from Column C.
* Three sets of notes, one for each text (mandatory)
* Three essays, each 1 to 2 pages in length, typed, MLA style, using a minimum of 3 quotes, addressing a major theme in each work (3 essay grades)
This class will be intensive and time-consuming, but the benefits and rewards will be equal to the amount of effort you invest. As Sophocles wrote, “Success is dependent on effort.” It is imperative that you begin this year in a way that insures your success. Completion of this assignment is essential to that success. There are no excuses in AP English. If you have any questions or difficulties completing this assignment, or if the expectations set forth here are unclear, you must contact the course instructor:
Mrs. Theresa Gawbill () I look forward to meeting each of you in the fall. Enjoy your summer and happy reading!
COLUMN A
* Frankenstein Mary Shelley (4)
*Moby Dickby Herman Melville (15)
*Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (26)
*As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (9)
*Ceremonyby Leslie Marmon Silko (11)
*The Bluest Eyeby Toni Morrison (3)
*Native Sonby Richard Wright (9)
*Anna Kareninaby Leo Tolstoy (8)
*Candideby Voltaire (9)
* Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy(5)
* The Jungleby Upton Sinclair (8)
* A Passage to Indiaby E. M. Forster (8)
* Madame Bovaryby Gustave Flaubert (7)
* Portrait of a Ladyby Henry James (7)
* The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
* Gulliver’s Travelsby Jonathan Swift (6)
* Moll Flandersby Daniel Defoe (6)
* Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (6)
* The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (6)
*Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad (7)
COLUMN B
* A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
* Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
* Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
* Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
* The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
* Atonement by Ian McEwan
* Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
* The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
* The Color Purple by Alice Walker
* Lord of the Flies by William Golding
* The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
* Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee
*Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien
* Bless Me, Ultimaby Rudolfo Anaya
* All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
*In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
*Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
*Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
*Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Obasan by Joy Kogawa
COLUMN C
* A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
*Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
* The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
*The Piano Lesson by August Wilson
*Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
* The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
* Equus by Peter Shaffer
* Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
* Fences by August Wilson
* The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman
* The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
* Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill
* No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre
* Angels in America by Tony Kushner
* Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
* Medea by Euripedes
*Mrs. Warren’s Profession by George Bernard Shaw
* Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
* Our Town by Thornton Wilder
*Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce)
AP Literature Novel Review Sheet
Title:______Date Published/Movement:______
Author:______Genre/s:______
Prominent Characters: Characteristics/ What they represent in the novel
Major Plot Events:
Point of View:
Notable Text Structure Features:
Climax of the Story:
Resolution:
Major Themes/Philosophical Arguments of the work (MEANING OF THE WORK AS A WHOLE):
Major Literary Devices:
List Any Significant Quotes:
Thesis Statement #1:
Thesis Statement #2: